Hand-held rubbers stamps are well known. The most common type involves a die plate which is rigidly fixed to a wooden backing member and handle and which is intended to print a single message or image. Stamps are also known which include a slotted die support member whose slots can be selectively filled with various elongate dies normally bearing alphanumeric indicia. Another common type of handheld stamp which permits alteration of a printed image involves an endless belt carrying dies and appropriately mounted so that different dies can be rotated to a print position. A common example of such a device is a date stamp.
All of these prior art hand-held stamps have a basic limitation that the image to be printed must fill less than a predetermined area. This limitation is due largely to the inherent dimensional limitations of the die support mechanism and the associated manner of die securement. There is consequently a very severe limitation on the extent to which the image to be printed can be modified without providing a different die holder or stamp.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a stamp in which die plates of varying overall dimensions can be accommodated. It is also an object of the invention to provide in such a stamp a convenient way of expanding or altering the associated die plate.